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Campus Events Archive

Spring 2012: Youthquake! The 1960s Fashion Revolution

This exhibition explores the dramatic impact of young people on fashion during a decade of sweeping political, social, and cultural change. Fashion of this era was driven by two leading subcultures of the era, the Mods and the Hippies who rejected the societal and sartorial traditions of the establishment. Their daring, individualistic styles were quickly adapted by high fashion designers and mass marketers alike.

Vivienne Westwood, 1980-89 examined Vivienne Westwood’s transformation from “street” provocateur to high-end fashion designer during the 1980s. Westwood began the decade outside the mainstream, as a designer of subcultural style, but as her work evolved so did her level of press coverage and the breadth of her clientele. By 1989, she was a celebrated vanguard in the fashion world. The magnitude of her remarkable rise was confirmed when she was named British Designer of the Year in both 1990 and 1991.

Generations of women have found a perfect combination of elegance and comfort in Delman shoes. When Herman Delman started his shoe company in 1919, he set out to "beautify the female foot." Delman wanted to promote his ideal vision of a "lady": fashionable, graceful and – in a pair of Delman shoes – a more glamorous version of herself. A purveyor of custom-made as well as ready-to-wear shoes, the company became known for fine construction, much of it hand-crafted.

Muriel King (1900-1977) was an American designer who began her business in the early 1930s and helped form a distinctive American style. King's clothes were worn by glamorous women in New York society and in Hollywood, including Ginger Rogers and Katherine Hepburn. But her work was not limited to the elite. She designed for dress pattern companies so women who couldn't afford her couture originals could own one of her designs. She also contributed to the war effort in 1943 by designing work-wear for the women of the Boeing Aircraft Company.